{"id":258,"date":"2024-08-04T16:12:16","date_gmt":"2024-08-04T16:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climate-reality.net\/?page_id=258"},"modified":"2026-05-10T17:33:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T17:33:30","slug":"are-the-impacts-of-climate-warming-thus-far-as-bad-as-they-have-been-portrayed","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/climate-reality.net\/?page_id=258","title":{"rendered":"The impacts of climate change thus far are less bad than they have been portrayed."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My research indicates that many misstatements and even misleading photographs and movies have been publicized \u2014 often, it seems, deliberately to scare people into action. <\/strong> For example, hurricanes and tornadoes have not been worse than before, though perhaps they are slightly more frequent.  Most coral reefs that were bleached by ocean hot spots have recovered1<\/a><\/sup>, and coral bleaching and recovery have occurred many times before.  (However as I write the ocean is hotter than it has been in thousands of years, so reefs maynot recover.<\/em>) Reservoirs and ground water in arid areas of the American West have not been receiving less precipitation than during other dry periods (but are being drained by overuse).  The dust bowl era of the 1930s was more extreme than recent heat and drought. <\/em>The western Antarctica ice shelf is melting due to warm ocean temperatures, but the interior of Antarctica has been getting colder2<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every climatological record or unusual climate occurrence in any locality is publicized as proving impending climate change disaster.\u00a0 However, climate history contains many past extremes here and there.\u00a0 For example, on June 27, 1772, long before massive heat islands the nighttime temperature in Paris was 27.5\u00baC, still a record.3<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 Normal or cool temperatures are not news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That, however, is the past. There have been negative effects and with continued climate change, they are likely to get worse. For example, the northern hemisphere fire season is longer now, (though many years of fire suppression is the main reason for mega-fires.)4<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 The sea is now slowly becoming more acid5<\/a><\/sup> and, based upon satellite data, rising at 3.9 millimeters (1\/6th<\/sup> inch) per year compared to 2.5 mm in the 1990s and 1.5mm earlier in the 20th<\/sup> century6<\/a><\/sup>, and the rate is likely to increase. Rising ocean and land temperatures are likely to cause permanent coral bleaching and other environmental disruptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We should not completely discount the probable positive effects of climate change for northern regions, such as longer and more fertile growing seasons, and less frigid winters. However, many of us will agree that worldwide with continued warming the bad effects of climate change will outdo the good.<\/p>\n\n\n

  1. https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s00338-022-02271-6; https:\/\/www.aims.gov.au\/information-centre\/news-and-stories\/southern-reefs-recover-bleaching?utm_source=miragenews&utm_medium=miragenews&utm_campaign=news; https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/news\/2020\/12\/18\/coral-recovery-during-a-prolonged-heatwave-offers-new-hope\/#:~:text=Warmer waters can trigger a source within a few weeks.<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  2. https:\/\/nsidc.org\/data<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  3. https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Climate_of_Paris<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  4. https:\/\/theconversation.com\/how-years-of-fighting-every-wildfire-helped-fuel-the-western-megafires-of-today-163165<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  5. https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ocean_acidification<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  6. https:\/\/earthobservatory.nasa.gov\/images\/150192\/tracking-30-years-of-sea-level-rise#:~:text=Global%20mean%20sea%20level%20has,(0.15%20inches)%20per%20year.<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    My research indicates that many misstatements and even misleading photographs and movies have been publicized \u2014 often, it seems, deliberately […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s00338-022-02271-6; https:\/\/www.aims.gov.au\/information-centre\/news-and-stories\/southern-reefs-recover-bleaching?utm_source=miragenews&utm_medium=miragenews&utm_campaign=news; https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/news\/2020\/12\/18\/coral-recovery-during-a-prolonged-heatwave-offers-new-hope\/#:~:text=Warmer waters can trigger a source within a few weeks.<\/a>\",\"id\":\"a60c2edd-15f5-48aa-ad64-59569568c04e\"},{\"content\":\"https:\/\/nsidc.org\/data<\/a>\",\"id\":\"a4cf47b3-3999-4f25-8720-d195e31b2c7d\"},{\"content\":\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Climate_of_Paris<\/a>\",\"id\":\"84067f5e-ae31-4309-9a81-553d6bb6a26f\"},{\"content\":\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/how-years-of-fighting-every-wildfire-helped-fuel-the-western-megafires-of-today-163165<\/a>\",\"id\":\"da48be49-00ae-4a3f-aa0b-e4606b87ab5b\"},{\"content\":\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ocean_acidification<\/a>\",\"id\":\"ee7b309c-338c-4e2c-a130-5a62d94dc364\"},{\"content\":\"https:\/\/earthobservatory.nasa.gov\/images\/150192\/tracking-30-years-of-sea-level-rise#:~:text=Global%20mean%20sea%20level%20has,(0.15%20inches)%20per%20year.<\/a>\",\"id\":\"8e97fd76-fcda-40be-b559-7af0f69579bd\"}]"},"class_list":["post-258","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climate-reality.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climate-reality.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climate-reality.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climate-reality.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climate-reality.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=258"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/climate-reality.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":825,"href":"https:\/\/climate-reality.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/258\/revisions\/825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climate-reality.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}